Dec 31 2007
Ark Avilon Zoo, Fun Ranch and Tiendesitas
My wife read somewhere that there’s a “cool” zoo just beside Tiendesitas. A zoo beside Tiendesitas is a bit strange because aside from the fact that Tiendesitas is a place to shop and eat, it’s beside a mall (SM). Also, I regularly pass through the Malabon City zoo, just behind Potrero elementary school along McArthur Highway (that’s a few meters from Monumento, Caloocan), but I never had the desire to go in a zoo, and I’m not really sure if it’s proper to qualify a “zoo” with being cool. The Ark Avilon Zoo made me rethink that.
We parked in front of Tiendesitas, which, at first, wasn’t a good idea because there’s some walking to do towards the Avilon Zoo. I grabbed the first parking slot available because I didn’t know if there are parking spaces right in front of the zoo (yes, there are). Still, the choice of parking turned out perfect because we ended up eating at Tiendesitas, which means we were near where we parked. Anyway, any parking-related stress soon vanished when we saw, and got in, the Ark Avilon.
It was a crisp sunny day, and it would have really helped a lot if the weather was at least overcast, so that we could approximate how Moses (or Evan Almighty) felt when he went in his ark. To get in Ark Avilon, you either pay P200 per head (for 1 year-old kids and above) or help build the next ark (kidding about building the ark).
There are crocodiles, although I’m not really sure if they’re alligators. The Animal Channel made me realize that crocodiles are technically different from alligators, but thankfully I need not explain that to my two-year old son who’s the primary reason why I decided to drag my butt out of the couch and go to the Ark Avilon Zoo. There are tortoises and turtles, but it’s not really hard to tell which is which. Then there’s sushi, I mean, different kinds of fish — huge ones, I must say.
There are exotic birds. How do I know they’re exotic, you ask? Let’s see. Palawan Hornbill, Luzon Tarictic Hornbill, Egyptian Goose, Violet Touraco, Nicobar Pigeon and Helmeted Guineafowl. The hard-to-pronounce names alone made me conclude they’re exotic, not that it matters anyway. The zoo also allows visitors to handle eagles, in the same way that the kids are allowed to ride the donkey and play with the rabbits. It was my first time to see a chameleon and it was pleasantly surprising to find one beside me — while I was buying hotdog sandwiches and beverage. After the attendant handed me the bottle of water, he held out a cricket, dangled it in front of the chameleon, then whap. It’s gone. The cricket, I mean, and not the chameleon, which, of course, could change colors to hide itself. It was Animal Planet in the flesh.
Then there are the snakes. I’m not really fond of snakes and there’s quite a few that I’ve gunned down or hacked to death with a bolo. I’d hold a dead snake only by the tail, which is because I’d rather shoot them from a distance than hold them. Then I saw the yellow snake and, as images of sexy models with snakes around their sexy bodies flash through my (innocent) mind, I couldn’t resist the temptation of not having my photo taken with them. The snakes, l mean. Besides, I have to show my son, Enzo, that his father could handle snakes.
I’m really having a hard time selecting which photos to include in this blog. There’s just to many of them and there’s too little alloted space for this blog. There’s a lion, with the tigers, pumas, orangutans, bears and other animals, the names of which I should have written down so I won’t forget. Perhaps you could do that for me when you go there. I chose the colorful and more majestic tiger over the sleeping lion and the rest of the others.
It’s a bit hot at the Avilon Zoo, so better dress accordingly. Just beside Avilon Zoo is the Fun Ranch (website), which is perfect to complete my son’s day out. There are rides, but not really like those in the Enchanted Kingdom. It’s just enough to keep the little ones preoccupied, but I must say that the zoo should be the main destination.
Beside the Fun Ranch is Tiendesitas. Here, you could shop in bazaar-type outlets. There’s an open food court, which includes products under the One Town, One Product (OTOP) program of the government. You may want to support this project. I suggest Tita Lynn’s Flavored Suman, with its great tsokolate and coffee.
*How to get there? Ark Avilon Zoo, Fun Ranch and Tiendesitas are located along Ortigas Avenue Extension corner C5, Pasig City. It’s near Eastwood City, Libis and the Ortigas Center.
The owners of Arc of Avilon,Jake and Tina Gaw, should be sued for negligence. If insensitivity is a crime then they should be jailed for that. I hope the Child Bitten by Giant Snake story intensifies so that that facility inadequate “zoo” will close down.
Kenneth,
I don’t know the owners of the Avilon zoo and I’m certainly not siding with anyone, but I must say that the zoo is a great place where we could bring our kids. We were there a few days before the incident happened to the family of Mr. Jerry Liao. My wife read the email of Mr. Liao first, and she made a comment that, thank God, it did not happen to our son (because, as you can see from the photos, I did handle the snake with my son). I told my wife that we can’t really expect an animal never to attack anyone. Attacks even by trained animals happened before and will happen again. This is the reason why I was holding the snake by its head (and, in fairness to the attendant at that time, he also reminded me to hold the head of the snake).
Still, my discussion is really not an excuse for what happened, and I may have the luxury of saying these things because the incident didn’t happen to my son. I do relate and agree with most of the observations of Mr. Liao, and I wish his daughter well. Maybe a lot of improvements on the facilities and the services have to be undertaken by Ark Avilon, so that no similar incident will happen again. That, however, should not be a reason to close it down because, given some spare time in the future, I will definitely bring my son there again.
Here’s the email that’s going around regarding this matter:
————
My Family and I visited the new Arc of Avilon (AoA) Zoo located at Frontera Verde near Tiendesitas in Pasig last January 5, 2008. The highlight of the said zoo is they allow people especially kids to touch their animals like orangutan, parrots, eagles, rabbits, tortoise and snakes.
And when you allow your kids to touch these animals, you trust that the animals are harmless and are trained not to hurt its visitors.
Unfortunately, my 2nd daughter was bitten by an Albino King Snake. Her finger was bloodied so I quickly ask where the clinic was located. I saw a sign that read Hospital/Quarantine, I quicky open the door but found nothing inside but some cages and two people talking. I ask if there’s a doctor there and they said none. Then the king snake handler came over and directed us to follow him. I thought we would be brought to a clinic. To my dismay, we were brought to a dirty pantry full of flies. And the handler administered Betadine to my daughter’s finger, which was stored in a soy sauce gallon container. A park with no clinic, no doctor and no medicine.
I took my daughter to the hospital, and upon reaching the hospital the first question was what kind of snake bit my daughter. I told them its an Albino King Snake. They were not sure whether the king snake is a venomous or a non-venomous snake. They said they had to consult an expert about this. After awhile, Thank God that the king snake was a non-venomous one. But the doctors wanted to be sure so they gave my daughter an anti-tetanus drug and ask her to take anti-biotics for seven days.
After reaching home, I texted both Jake and Tina Gaw (owners of AoA) that the doctor asked us to observe my daughters condition. I also told them that I am going to write about this horrible experience. Tina texted back and said: “Jerry, if thats how bad you felt, I respect your personal feelings concerning the incident. I wish she (my daughter) could have been more careful in handling the snake or other pets as well especially this one is exotic. Even tame ones, rabbit, tortoise, mouse, pig bite when they felt hurt or frighten when not properly handled. And its really sad when you felt it became a horrible issue.”
Now it’s my daughter’s fault to be bitten by the snake? AoA never bothered to offer their help and now they blame my daughter for the incident. That was a very insensitive remark by Tina. I don’t think the snake was hurt or frighten, they were tired and irritated because they were being used to entertain people.
Exotic you say? Why allow them to be touched by people? Yes, I agree that animals bite when they felt hurt or frighten, but let me remind the management of AoA that most of your audience are children, I even saw some as young as two years old. They will just touch and play with the animals without knowing whether they’re hurting them or not. It is AoA’s responsibility to make sure that none of their animals be hurt or frigthen so that biting won’t happen.
And since accidents happen, how come Arc of Avilon don’t even have a clinic to at least administer some first-aid soluton. What if the eagles decided to peck the visitors, or use their big claws to attack the visitors. Donkey or horse suddenly kicking. And snakes biting. There shoud be a doctor, a clinic and first-aid kit to address this kind of unfortunate incidents.
Arc of Avilon should not allow people to touch a snake that bites plus they should have expert handlers to assist its visitors. All the Arc of Avilon management can say is that the snake is a non-venomous one. No other help was offered, and then they will blame the visitors for mishandling the animals.
Am I overacting? I don’t think so. What are the chances that you will get bitten by a snake in the metropolis? Worst in a theme park like Arc of Avilon. As a parent, will you take it sitting down? Will you just take their word for it that it’s non-venomous? Remember, its a snake-bite. Let this be a warning to all my readers who are planning to visit Arc of Avilon at Tiendesitas or any other zoo for that matter.
Let my story be a lesson to all. You can ask your kids to look but as much as possible DO NOT TOUCH. Better yet, DO NOT VISIT the Arc of Avilon totally, until they improve their facilities. Never again will we go to the Arc of Avilon.
Thank you and more power. God Bless us all!
Jerry Liao
[...] rest of this article, with more photos, are at the Visit Pinas blog. The email of Mr. Jerry Liao on the snake-biting incident was posted at the comment section. [...]
we are planning to go @ avilon zoo mybe dis week.. me, my husband & 1 year old son.. is r son free of charge since he is just 1 year old?? thanx
Hi Kat. As far as I know, kids under 1 year old are free (which means kids one year old and above are no longer free). But then again, I may be wrong. Perhaps you could drop by again after you go there, and tell us what happened. =)
Hi! I’m planning on taking my godchildren to this zoo some time next month. Is there a separate entrance fee to get into the fun ranch??
Hello, balikbayan. We did not pay any entrance fee for the Fun Ranch (but there’s a fee for each ride, like the bump cars). Enjoy.
What are the differences bet the avilon in montalban and the one in tiendesitas?
definitely the size, and number of animals… avilon montalban is 7.5 hectare while in frontera verde (tiendesitas) is only 2,000 sqm. ark avilon aims to be an interactive zoo because you can actually touch and feed some of the animals here!!!
[...] There are crocodiles, although I’m not really sure if they’re alligators. The Animal Channel made me realize that crocodiles are technically different from alligators, but thankfully I need not explain that to my two-year old son who’s the primary reason why I decided to drag my butt out of the couch and go to the Ark Avilon Zoo. There are tortoises and turtles, but it’s not really hard to tell which is which. Then there’s sushi, I mean, fishes, huge ones. (The rest of the article, with more photos, is at Visit Pinas.) [...]
When will the Fun Ranch at Westgate open to the public? It’s very near our school!How about this summer of 2008 will it be ready for field trip visit most probably May 12-16? Thanks!
[...] a seaworld, where kids and adults are treated with the sights of different marine animals (think of Ark Avilon Zoo, but all sea creatures). When you hear “seaworld,” you think of Seaworld in Orlando, [...]
Great pictures! My sister and her family was just there last week and my niece who is 2 years old had a great time.
With regards to the bad publicity, i hope all of you have read both sides of the story. It would be unfair to read only 1 side that has been spread-out like a wildfire.
Thanks for sharing the photos and the experience!
regarding the incident at AoA,
I hope Mr. Liao’s daughter gets well soon,
1.) The reply of Tina was indeed very insensitive, considering she’s a woman, I hope it wont happen to her kids if that’s the way she thinks. Put yourself in Mr. Liao’s place, and read your reply.
A perfect example of pilato.
2.) I dont see anything wrong with the place, its a cool place for your kids. there is nothing better than fun and education combined. but AoA should train their staff well enough that kids will be safe,
you can never say kids are not careful that’s why they got bitten, how the hell would they know what is safe and not, in a place for kids! the staff should show how to be safe.
3.)ok lets just say there are inevitable things that could happen, so why the “clinic” dont have a doctor or maybe a nurse???!!! its like calling hospital without a doctor? I cant call that place a clinic without a medical staff.
4.) Betadine also should not be put in a container of a soy sauce, that could be mistaken as a soy sauce since their color is alike.
5.) I hope Mr. Liao should report it to the proper authorities. based on your letter, after assuring that it is not venomous, they didn’t offer help afterwards. the management of AoA should be held liable for what happened, and certain amount for damages should be paid, the trauma for the kid cannot be paid for any amount, since it will not just go away by just paying for it, its not that you are being “mukhang pera” you can even donate the money to some animal conservation non government organization like HaringIbon.
6.) but I disagree with one thing, I do not wish AoA to be close because of the incident. the incident will hopefully not be forgotten and will be a lesson for the management and to everybody, closing the facility means your also depriving other kids of a wonderful experience( not the biting incident ).
@Leo, I’m sorry I still haven’t secured the information to reply to your question. Perhaps other readers who know the answer could help you on that.
@hym, thanks. I could imagine that your niece enjoyed the zoo (my kid immensely enjoyed the place).
@Mark, perhaps it’s safe to presume that the management learned their lesson and had done something about the safety issues (I really hope so). I agree with you that the Avilon zoo should continue to open, expand to include more animals (and improve its service). We passed by Malabon Zoo last weekend and, with all due respect, I can’t help but note the huge discrepancy as compared to Avilon.
Thank you for visiting Fun Ranch. Hope to see you again, you may call us at 706-3029 or 706-3031. Also, check our website, http://www.kidsrulehere.com for updates.
Fun Ranch, you’re welcome, and thanks for dropping by. Just thinking out loud - perhaps you’d like to invite a family or two (of course, our readers and not us) for a free ride-all-you-can visit to your establishment, subject to the submission of an article about that visit. We could post that article/s here. That would be good for everyone.
Thank you Atty. Fred! Do you have any reader in mind?
^^^me! hehehe.